A question for the movie-nuts...

[SnoopDog]

....why do you think are Mafia/Gangster-movies so succesful. I don't mean just like 'they're doing good at the b/o'. I mean why are so many movies with this topic considered to be grand, a classic or one of the best movies of all.

Like 'The Godfather'
'GoodFellas'
'Scarface'
'Heat'
'Donnie Brasco'

etc.


Opinions?


Snoopy

 

[AppleBiter]

I don't know. It's certainly not just the mobster movies that are classics or are popular at the box office. *shrugs* People like them, I guess. A lot like they like action or comedy or anything else. Personally, I'm not a big fan of mobster movies. I do like Goodfellas, though. We had to watch it in my Criminology class and I liked it because it was funny.

Don't know that I'm much help, here.



AppleBiter

 

[CharleyH]

....why do you think are Mafia/Gangster-movies so succesful. I don't mean just like 'they're doing good at the b/o'. I mean why are so many movies with this topic considered to be grand, a classic or one of the best movies of all.

Like 'The Godfather'
'GoodFellas'
'Scarface'
'Heat'
'Donnie Brasco'

etc.

Opinions?

Snoopy

I dunno about Donnie Brasco, since it really did not meet my expectations in the genre, but most gangster films reflect a certain political or social milieu associated with the times that they are made. In the forties, crime films tended to focus on the individual anti-hero and their relationship to the underworld (The Killers). In the fifties, with the advent of the McCarthy era, communist paranoia, the focus shifted to national criminal conspiracy films and in '51 I think, the Mafia was found (via Senate Special Committe to investigate organized crime) to permeate aspects of American culture. (hence a big surge in such films with The Enforcer, Big Heat, On the Waterfront etc.). For the most part, there were few gangster films of any significance in the 60's until the revival with The French Connection and Godfather in the 70's, though the directors of the French New Wave did use a lot of the gangster movie conventions throughout the sixties.

Don't forget also that the Godfather was a popular selling novel first, I think (Mario Puzo), and that when Goodfella's was made, Scorcese was already an acclaimed director, and Scarface was a remake of the famed Howard Hawks film of the same name, which was also an instrumental influence in Coppola's The Godfather.

Before Godfather, musicals were actually the biggest money making movies for decades, and now things come and go. Just look at the surge in mythological epics since the success of the first LOTR. Ok, enough history lesson.

I think the Godfather would be the only one on the list to be considered a classic. Certainly, Goodfellas was a terrific film (but I personally think Scorcese did more with Miller's Crossing), Scarface is violently memorable, and Heat is also a terrific film, but classics go a lot further than simple box office success and big name stars, just as I may have mentioned on another thread that 'star and celebrity' while maintaining similar features are quite exceptionally different, so too is a classic or masterpiece film different from the popular movie.

Why is one thing popular one year, and another thing popular the next? It often seems that it depends on what is happening in popular culture at the time. Certainly, the spike in myth epics could have something to do with the general desire for fantasy, even if violent fantasy, during the aftermath of 9/11 and the Gulf War.

 

[LeahLo519]

I think it's something that a lot of people are curious about.

 

[The_Darkness]

Curious, yes, but I think there's a few reasons behind them.

The movies are usually pretty well accepted by both sexes. They're not chick flicks by a LOOOOONG shot, but most girls like them....they're macho, they're sexy, they're...gangsters.

There's an air of mystery about them. MOST of us aren't in the mafia and it's kind of a secretive organization built around taboo subjects...prostitution, liquor running, drugs, contract killing, etc. They're exciting for that reason alone.

Most of the time, the director kicks ass and the actors are pretty well top shelf. Even the most wretched of movies can do really well with awesome actors....though, sometimes that's not even enough (case in point, Zardoz with Sean Connery).

The design and script of the shows is outstanding. There's nothing cheap and flashy about the sets. Everything is how we imagine a gritty underworld should be. There's no damn computer effects, it's all in-shot effects, which always work better than having actors try to react to things that they can't see.

I dunno...they're just all around damn good movies.

 

[Guest]

Sex. It's all about sex (isn't everything?). And bad men.

 

[The_Darkness]

Sex. It's all about sex (isn't everything?). And bad men.

Well, it is with you, Lou....but this time I think you've got it. The answer I mean. I've known for a while that you've got it....but yeah...you know what I mean.

 

[Guest]

Well, it is with you, Lou....but this time I think you've got it. The answer I mean. I've known for a while that you've got it....but yeah...you know what I mean.

Thanks... I think.



But, yeah, I was serious. It's that rough, dirty sex appeal that always gets me.

 

[CharleyH]

Thanks... I think.



But, yeah, I was serious. It's that rough, dirty sex appeal that always gets me.

Guns, ropes, kidnapping and ... your dirty mind!!!

 

[Quiet_Cool]

....why do you think are Mafia/Gangster-movies so succesful. I don't mean just like 'they're doing good at the b/o'. I mean why are so many movies with this topic considered to be grand, a classic or one of the best movies of all.

Like 'The Godfather'
'GoodFellas'
'Scarface'
'Heat'
'Donnie Brasco'

etc.


Opinions?


Snoopy

Consider for a moment: You just named 5 movies that contained either Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino, who happen to play those parts (along with nearly every part they play) very well.

Unlike Charley, I was very impressed with Donnie Brasco.

Q_C

 

[CharleyH]

Consider for a moment: You just named 5 movies that contained either Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino, who happen to play those parts (along with nearly every part they play) very well.

Unlike Charley, I was very impressed with Donnie Brasco.

Q_C

I WAS impressed with Johnny Depp.

 

[AppleBiter]

I WAS impressed with Johnny Depp.

I am ALWAYS impressed w/Johnny Depp . . . *dreamy sigh*

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I WAS impressed with Johnny Depp.

I'll be honest, I thought the people who didn't like that movie were the ones who just couldn't see Edward Scissorhands play a badass...

Q_C

 

[CharleyH]

I'll be honest, I thought the people who didn't like that movie were the ones who just couldn't see Edward Scissorhands play a badass...

Q_C

Hey, he was a 'little' rebellious in 21 Jump Street. I did not say I did not like it. I just don't consider it a masterpiece or classic.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Hey, he was a 'little' rebellious in 21 Jump Street. I did not say I did not like it. I just don't consider it a masterpiece or classic.

I didn't necessarily mean you, just in general...

Q_C

 

[Guest]

Guns, ropes, kidnapping and ... your dirty mind!!!

Yup, that just about sums it up.

 

[CharleyH]

Yup, that just about sums it up.

LIKE THAT is not obvious .... MOVIE SLUT!

 

[Guest]

LIKE THAT is not obvious .... MOVIE SLUT!

I've never been called one of those before!

Well, not the movie bit anyway.

 

[CharleyH]

I've never been called one of those before!

Well, not the movie bit anyway.

LOL, touche' - I am almost speechless. LOL - good to see you, gorgeous.

 

[Guest]

LOL, touche' - I am almost speechless. LOL - good to see you, gorgeous.

You are!? Well... FUCK!

Thanks, babe, and very much likewise.

 

[CharleyH]

You are!? Well... FUCK!

Thanks, babe, and very much likewise.

Fuck, huh? ON A SEX SITE? :| You ARE DIRTY!

 

[Remec]

Fuck, huh? ON A SEX SITE? :| You ARE DIRTY!

Works for me...<gathering assorted props and scenic devices> Let me know when the two of you are ready, I'll just be white balancing the camera. <BG>

 

[Guest]

Fuck, huh? ON A SEX SITE? :| You ARE DIRTY!

We need to keep providing the material, love.



Remec, I'll give you the nod.

 

[Remec]

We need to keep providing the material, love.
Remec, I'll give you the nod.

Coolness.

'Course, I'll be off for my prework nap shortly, but--trust me--the thought of you and Charley being up to all sorts of naughtiness will more than occupy my dreams wonderfully.

 

[Guest]

Coolness.

'Course, I'll be off for my prework nap shortly, but--trust me--the thought of you and Charley being up to all sorts of naughtiness will more than occupy my dreams wonderfully.

Nap well, babe.

I'd better be off myself in a mo, for my full nightime nap. And maybe more.